Millenarianism

Millennialism

{mil - en - air' - ee - uhn - izm}

General Information

In its narrowest sense millenarianism refers to belief in the
Second Coming Of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom
on earth as predicted in the Book of Revelation. More
generally, the term refers to any religious movement that
prophesies the imminent destruction of the present order and
the establishment of a new order, usually reversing the
relative status of the oppressed and the oppressor.

Christian millenarian beliefs were derived from Jewish
apocalyptic traditions current in the centuries before and
after Jesus Christ. Some scholars have, in fact, suggested
that in its origins Christianity was related to such
millenarian groups as the Essenes. As Christianity developed
into a stable community in the centuries after Jesus,
millenarian activity became primarily a fringe movement,
associated with such reform movements as Montanism and, in
the 13th and 14th centuries, Joachimism and radical Franciscan
movements. With the upheavals brought on by the Reformation
in the 16th century, millenarianism increased and was found,
for example, among the Anabaptists.

In the 18th century, Independents in England (for example,
Joseph Mede) and Pietists in Germany advocated millenarian views.
Among contemporary Protestant groups believing in the millennium
are the Seventh Day Adventists, the Christadelphians, the
Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Plymouth Brethren. Most
millenarians believe that the millennium will follow the
Second Coming; some, however, have defined the millennium as
a period of progressive improvement in the world that will
culminate in the Second Coming.

Bibliography
M Barkum, Disaster and the Millennium (1986);
K O L Burridge, New Heaven, New Earth: A Study of Millenarian
Activities (1969); N Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium (1970); J W
Davidson, The Logic of Millennial Thought: Eighteenth Century New
England (1977); R A Doan, The Miller Heresy: Millennialism and
American Culture (1987); D L Russell, The Method and Message of
Jewish Apocalyptic, 200 BC - AD 100 (1964); A Taylor, Visions of
Harmony: A Study in 19th Century Millenarianism (1987); T P Weber,
Living in the Shadow of the Second Coming: American
Premillennialism, 1875 - 1925 (1979).

EDITOR'S NOTE: Joseph Mede was actually an early 17th Century
writer and not from the 18th Century as this author had stated.
The article below correctly states this fact.

Millennium

General Information

Introduction

A millennium is a period of 1,000 years. The word millennium is
derived from the Latin words mille, which means "thousand,"
and annus, "years."

In various Christian doctrines, millennium refers to a 1,000-year
period foretold in the Bible's Book of Revelation, involving the
apocalypse (the end of the world) and the reign of Jesus Christ
on earth. The concept of the millennium is not only associated
with Christian thought, however. Many cultures of the world have
similar beliefs about the imminent transformation or end of the
world and the creation of an age in which human suffering and
violence will be eliminated. Thus, Western scholars commonly use
the term millennium to refer generally to any new age of holiness,
harmony, and earthly perfection. Similarly, the word millennialism
is used to describe beliefs about an imminent apocalypse,
the salvation of the world, or the creation of an earthly paradise.
Such beliefs have existed throughout history and are still held by
millions of people today.

The year 2000 had sparked widespread feelings that something monumental
was going to occur with the flip of the calendar page. Although
the year 2000 is a subjective marking of the passage of time,
in popular culture it has enormous symbolic and conceptual power.
For many people, it represents a pivotal moment in history, a time
to reflect on the past thousand years or imagine a thousand years to come.

For the past several hundred years, people in Western cultures have
marked time in terms of 10-year periods (decades) and 100-year periods
(centuries). Westerners tend to associate eras with decades and
centuries. For example, many Americans think of the 1920s as the
Roaring Twenties, and they frequently associate the 1960s with
protests and social activism. Many people attach special significance
to years that end in a zero, because these years seem to signal
a transition from one era to another. A year that ends in triple
zeros, then, suggests an even greater change. Thus, the year 2000
had evoked hope for transformation and the birth of a new age,
as well as fears about potential global catastrophes.

Dating the Millennium

Although January 1, 2000, was popularly celebrated as the beginning
of the 3rd millennium, there are differing beliefs about when the
new millennium actually began. The Western dating of the millennium
is based on the Gregorian calendar, which is the most globally
recognized system for marking the passage of years.

According to the Gregorian calendar, the millennium did not begin
until January 1, 2001. The Gregorian calendar follows the AD
(Latin anno Domini, "in the year of our Lord") system
introduced by Christian monk Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century AD.
The AD system counts time from the year Jesus Christ was born.
Dionysius dated Jesus' birth in the year AD 1 rather than in
AD 0, because Roman numerals, which were still in use, had no
symbol for zero. In this dating system, each century begins with
a year ending in 01 and ends with a year ending in 00. For example,
the 19th century began in 1801 and ended in 1900. Therefore,
December 31, 2000, ended the old millennium, and January 1, 2001,
marked the start of the new millennium in this dating system.

Some people believe the new millennium, as marked by the birth
of Jesus, began several years earlier than 2001. According to many
scholars, Dionysius made various errors in calculating Jesus'
birth date. Historical evidence indicates that Jesus was actually
born in 4 BC or earlier. As a result, the 2,000-year anniversary
of the birth of Jesus may have occurred sometime in the 1990s.

Other people believe that the change to the new millennium lasts
a period of 33 years, corresponding to the life span of Jesus.
According to some historians, the year 1033 - regarded by many people
as the 1,000-year anniversary of Jesus' death - resulted in
widespread millennial fervor in which people made pilgrimages to
Jerusalem and anticipated the destruction or renewal of the
world. Some people have predicted that the year 2033 [or maybe
2029, due to Dionysius' errors] will have millennial significance
as well and will be viewed as the date that marks the beginning
of the new millennium.

About two-thirds of the people in the world use religious or
ceremonial calendars in addition to the Gregorian calendar.
For example, January 1, 2000, on the Gregorian calendar was the
year 1420 on the Islamic calendar, 5760 on the Jewish calendar,
and 4697 on the Chinese calendar. However, even people who use
these other calendars are aware of the global significance of the
Gregorian calendar years 2000 and 2001.

Religious and Mystical Beliefs

Millennialist beliefs are not only related to the turn of the
millennium. Since the beginning of human history, people in nearly
every society have told sacred stories about worldly destruction,
the regeneration of the earth, and the creation of a terrestrial
paradise. Scholars have documented these types of stories from
Zoroastrian, Babylonian, Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Greek, Roman,
Norse, African, Maya, and Native American cultures.

Millennialist ideas are concerned with the destiny and destruction
of the world, the end of time, the end of evil and suffering, and
the creation of a perfect age. Millennialist belief systems have
an enduring appeal because they assert that there is an underlying
plan for history, that human existence is meaningful, and that
a new world of peace and justice will be created.

Book of Revelation

In the Christian Bible, the concept of the millennium is introduced
toward the end of the Book of Revelation (sometimes called the
Apocalypse). According to Revelation 19:11-21, 20:1-10, and other
passages, Jesus Christ will return to earth and defeat Satan at
the battle of Armageddon (Second Coming). Christ will then
throw Satan into a bottomless pit for 1,000 years and will reign
during this millennium of peace on earth. However, at the end
of those 1,000 years, Satan and the forces of evil will rise up
to do battle with Christ once again. In this final battle,
Christ will defeat Satan forever and throw Satan into a lake of
fire to suffer eternal torment. God will then resurrect all human
beings and judge them according to their beliefs and actions.
This event is often referred to as the Last Judgment. According
to Revelation, God will give the righteous people eternal life in
paradise and will send the evil ones to hell.

Types of Christian Millennialism

The concept of the millennium and the apocalypse referred to
in Revelation has been an important part of certain Christian
sects, but it has held less significance for most Roman
Catholic and Protestant groups. Believers in Christian
millennialism differ about when Christ will return to earth, how
the millennium will start, and the nature of the millennium.
The three major types of Christian millennialism are
premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism.

Premillennialism stresses a literal interpretation of
the Book of Revelation. In the premillennial view, worldwide
destruction and the return of Jesus Christ are required to
save humanity and bring about a new era of peace on earth.
This belief system - also referred to as catastrophic
millennialism - generally expresses a pessimistic view of
modern society and sees the world as fatally flawed.

Postmillennialism, also referred to as progressive
millennialism, interprets the Bible less literally than
premillennialism does. Postmillennialists regard the millennium
as a 1,000-year reign of Christian ideals that will end with
the return of Christ. In this view, the millennium will not
start suddenly through an apocalypse, but gradually through
the efforts of human beings. Postmillennialists believe that
through social reform and by upholding Christian ideals, the
kingdom of God will be built on earth and Christ will return.
Christ will then defeat Satan in a final battle, as referred
to in the Book of Revelation. Some postmillennialists believe
the millennium has already started.

Amillennialism, the predominant view for much of Christian
history, is the belief that biblical references to the
millennium are strictly figurative and that there will be no
earthly millennium. Some amillennialists believe that the
millennial rule of Christ occurs in the hearts of believers.
Others believe that the description of the millennium in
Revelation refers to Christ's reign in the kingdom of Heaven.

The Year 1000

In studying the various forms of millennialism, historians have
debated whether people recognized the turn of the millennium around
the year 1000. Some scholars believe that an apocalyptic fever
had gripped Europe by the year 999. According to these scholars,
many people converted to Christianity, stopped planting their crops,
confessed their sins, and forgave each other their debts. Others
abandoned their families to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem in hope
of witnessing the Second Coming of Christ, or they knelt in church
in terror as they anticipated an apocalypse.

However, most historians argue that the accounts of millennial
hysteria are the romantic concoctions of overly imaginative
writers. These historians note that the doctrines of the Catholic
Church at the end of the 1st millennium were opposed to any
teachings about imminent apocalypse. Furthermore, most people living
in the years 999 and 1000 were not even aware that it was the
end of the 1st millennium. However, there is considerable
historical evidence that after the year 1000, millennialism became
more widespread. It gained followers during the Crusades
(wars between Western European Christians and Muslims that began
in 1095) and throughout the latter part of the Middle Ages.

Contemporary Religious and Mystical Beliefs

Today many mainline religious organizations reject the concept
of an apocalypse or a Christian millennium. However, millennialist
beliefs are still integral to the worldviews of some denominations
of Protestantism. For example, a number of Evangelical denominations
hold premillennialist beliefs, including the Southern Baptist
Convention, the Assemblies of God, and the Church of the Nazarene
(see Evangelicalism). Many members of these and other Evangelical
denominations claim that recent wars, plagues, famines, and
earthquakes are signs that an apocalypse is imminent and that
Christ will return. According to these groups, the world will
experience a seven-year period of misery and massive destruction,
but Christians will be removed from the Earth unharmed.
[This involves the concept of "the Rapture".]

Adventism is another Protestant branch that holds millennialist
views (see Adventists). Adventist groups grew out of the religious
Millerite movement, led by American Baptist preacher William
Miller, who predicted that the world would end by 1843 or 1844.
After his predictions proved false, some disenchanted Millerites
formed into various Adventist groups, such as the Seventh-day
Adventists. Adventists maintain that various apocalyptic
predictions have been fulfilled and that Christ will return in
the near future. The Seventh-day Adventists assert that an
invisible, spiritual apocalypse occurred in 1844 with the
"cleansing of heaven," and they believe that it will
eventually be followed by world destruction in which only the
faithful will be saved.

Jehovah's Witnesses, another group formed from the Millerite
movement, claim the spiritual, invisible Second Coming of Christ
occurred in 1874 and that Christ's invisible reign started in 1914.
The group believes an apocalypse will come in the near future.
The religious group's founder, Charles Taze Russell, declared
that the fulfillment of Christ's millennial kingdom would be
completed only after the foreordained destruction of nations,
governments, churches, and world leaders, all of which Russell
considered representations of Satan's rule. The Jehovah's Witnesses
rejected formal religious and governmental organizations, and they
developed the practice of door-to-door evangelism in an attempt
to convert nonbelievers.

Millennial beliefs are also an important part of the theology
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known
as Mormonism. The religion was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830.
Smith claimed an angel told him that Christ's Second Coming was
imminent, and Smith believed he had been chosen to prepare
humanity for the millennium. According to Smith's visions, the
millennial kingdom will be established in the United States.
Today, Mormonism does not stress millennialism as much as it did
in the past. However, many Mormons interpret some world events
as the fulfillment of prophecies that foretell an apocalyptic period.

Many other contemporary religious groups have millennialist views.
These include the Unification Church, Hare Krishna, Baha'i,
Rastafarianism, and other religious movements. Millennialist prophecy,
once central to the early Jewish faith, continues today among
members of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, an Orthodox Hasidic
sect of Judaism. In the late 1980s and early 1990s many followers
of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Brooklyn, New York,
believed that he was the Messiah who would bring about the
redemption of the world. Schneerson never claimed to be the
Messiah, but he interpreted current events as apocalyptic signs
that foretold the Messiah's appearance in the near future.

Millennialist beliefs also exist at a grassroots level as a form
of popular or folk belief, apart from the sanction of formal
religious institutions. For instance, there is popular interest
in the apocalyptic predictions of Nostradamus, a 16th-century
French physician and astrologer, and Edgar Cayce, an American who
lived in the early 20th century and claimed to have psychic and
healing abilities. Some people also believe that alleged apparitions
of the Virgin Mary warn of imminent worldly destruction.

Recent Millennialist Movements

Apocalyptic and millennialist movements not affiliated with
established religious institutions are often depicted in stereotypical
ways as doomsday cults, involving violent activities, mass
suicides, and "brainwashed fanatics" with bizarre
beliefs. Of the hundreds of contemporary millennialist groups that
exist, relatively few movements have been motivated to acts of
violence or suicide. But there have been some exceptions in recent
years, including apocalyptic groups such as the Branch Davidians,
Aum Shinrikyo, and Heaven's Gate.

The Branch Davidian sect, a splinter group founded in 1934
from mainstream Seventh-day Adventists, believed that biblical
prophecies about the apocalypse were being fulfilled in the
late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993 federal agents attempted
a raid on the group's compound in Waco, Texas, in search of
illegal weapons. The Davidians interpreted the investigation
as a sign of the apocalypse, and a shootout erupted in which
four agents and a number of Davidians died. After a 51-day
standoff, agents used gas to force occupants out of the
compound, and a fire broke out that killed dozens of Davidians.

The Japanese Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) sect integrates
certain Buddhist, Daoist (Taoist), and Christian doctrines
with Tantric (mystic) yoga. The sect believed that an apocalypse
would occur in 1999. During the mid-1990s the group had tens
of thousands of members in Japan, Russia, Germany, the United
States, and several other countries. However, many members
left the group in 1995. That year the group's leaders were
charged with killing 12 people after releasing nerve gas in
a subway station in Tokyo, Japan, in an apparent attempt to
fulfill apocalyptic prophecies.

In 1997, 39 members of the religious group Heaven's Gate
committed suicide near San Diego, California. Followers believed
that a gigantic spacecraft trailed the Hale-Bopp comet in
March 1997 and offered an opportunity for them to be transported
to a higher realm before the Earth would be annihilated.

Although these groups differ in their doctrines, aspects of their
belief systems share certain common ideas. These ideas include a
sense of fatalism for a world regarded as completely evil and
doomed, and a desire for planetary escape and salvation. Some
people predict that the dawning of the 3rd millennium may motivate
other apocalyptic groups with similar beliefs to embrace and enact
violent scenarios as well.

Secular Attitudes

Until recently, most people believed that an apocalypse would
involve deities or divine forces. However, during the 20th century,
more people developed secular theories about an apocalypse.
Some believe the world will end due to nuclear warfare, new
technologies, environmental destruction, epidemic diseases, global
famine and overpopulation, or an Earth collision with a large
asteroid or comet. Secular beliefs about inevitable societal
destruction reflect a sense of helplessness, despair, or fatalistic
resignation.

The creation of nuclear weapons in particular has fundamentally
altered contemporary apocalyptic thought, evoking widespread
fatalism about the future of humanity. When the United States
dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August
1945, the event initiated an era of fear about global destruction.
Despite the end of the Cold War, concerns about the possibility
of nuclear annihilation persist today, stemming from fear that
nuclear weapons will be developed and used by hostile nations
or extremist organizations.

Specific secular beliefs about catastrophe occurring at the
beginning of 2000 were associated with what was known as the
year 2000 computer problem, the Y2K problem, or the millennium bug.
Many [older] computers were programmed to recognize the year by
the last two numbers of the year instead of by all four digits.
On January 1, 2000, these computers registered the year as the
digits 00. Computers that had not been fixed, understood these
digits as representing the year 1900 and generated some error
messages or shut down. Some people believed that many computer
systems worldwide would crash when the date changed from 1999
to 2000. They feared these computer crashes would spark economic,
political, and social catastrophes that would involve the
malfunction of missile systems, hospital equipment, satellites,
air transportation, and other major technologies.

Daniel N Wojcik

Views of the Millennium

Advanced Information

The word "millennium" is derived from the Latin for a thousand (at
times the word "chiliasm" taken from the Greek and meaning the same
thing is used). It denotes a doctrine taken from a passage in
Revelation (20:1 - 10) in which the writer describes the devil as
being bound and thrown into a bottomless pit for a thousand years.
The removal of Satanic influence is accompanied by the resurrection
of the Christian martyrs, who reign with Christ during the
millennium. This period is a time when all of humankind's yearning
for an ideal society characterized by peace, freedom, material
prosperity, and the rule of righteousness will be realized. The
vision of the OT prophets who foretold a period of earthly
prosperity for the people of God will find fulfillment during
this era.

Millennialism addresses problems that are often overlooked in other
eschatological views. Although most Christian theologians discuss
death, immortality, the end of the world, the last judgment, the
rewards of the just, and the punishment of the damned, they often
limit themselves to the prospects for the individual in this world
and the next. In contrast, millennialism is concerned with the
future of the human community on earth. It is concerned with the
chronology of coming events just as history is involved with the
study of the record of the past.

Millennialism has appeared within both Christian and non Christian
traditions. Anthropologists and sociologists have found
millennialist belief among non Western people, but they have debated
as to whether or not these appearances of the teaching are based
upon borrowing from the teaching are based upon borrowing from
Christian preaching. Most Christian theologians believe that
millennialism is based on material written by Judeo Christian
authors, especially the books of Daniel and Revelation. The ideas,
events, symbols, and personalities introduced in these writings
have reappeared countless times in the teachings of prophets of
the end of the world. Each new appearance finds these motifs
given fresh significance from association with contemporary events.

Major Varieties of Millennialism

For purposes of analysis and
explanation Christian attitudes toward the millennium can be
classified as premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial. These
categories involve much more than the arrangement of events
surrounding the return of Christ. The thousand years expected by
the premillennialist is quite different from that anticipated by
the postmillennialist. The premillennialist believes that the
kingdom of Christ will be inaugurated in a cataclysmic way and
that divine control will be exercised in a more supernatural manner
than does the postmillennialist.

Premillennialism

The premillennialist believes that the return of Christ will be
preceded by signs including wars, famines, earthquakes, the
preaching of the gospel to all nations, a great apostasy, the
appearance of Antichrist, and the great tribulation. These events
culminate in the second coming, which will result in a period of
peace and righteousness when Christ and his saints control the
world. This rule is established suddenly through supernatural
methods rather than gradually over a long period of time by means
of the conversion of individuals. The Jews will figure prominently
in the future age because the premillennialist believes that they
will be converted in large numbers and will again have a prominent
place in God's work. Nature will have the curse removed from it,
and even the desert will produce abundant crops, Christ will
restrain evil during the age by the use of authoritarian power.
Despite the idyllic conditions of this golden age there is a final
rebellion of wicked people against Christ and his saints.

This exposure of evil is crushed by God, the non Christian dead
are resurrected, the last judgment conducted, and the eternal states
of heaven and hell established. Many premillennialists have taught
that during the thousand years dead or martyred believers will be
resurrected with glorified bodies to intermingle with the other
inhabitants of the earth.

Postmillennialism

In contrast to premillennialism, the postmillennialists emphasize
the present aspects of God's kingdom which will reach fruition in
the future. They believe that the millennium will come through
Christian preaching and teaching. Such activity will result in a
more godly, peaceful, and prosperous world. The new age will not
be essentially different from the present, and it will come about
as more people are converted to Christ. Evil will not be totally
eliminated during the millennium, but it will be reduced to a
minimum as the moral and spiritual influence of Christians is
increased. During the new age the church will assume greater
importance, and many economic, social, and educational problems
can be solved. This period is not necessarily limited to a
thousand years because the number can be used symbolically. The
millennium closes with the second coming of Christ, the
resurrection of the dead, and the last judgment.

Amillennialism

The third position, amillennialism, states that the Bible does not
predict a period of the rule of Christ on earth before the last
judgment. According to this outlook there will be a continuous
development of good and evil in the world until the second coming of
Christ, when the dead shall be raised and the judgment conducted.
Amillennialists believe that the kingdom of God is now present in
the world as the victorious Christ rules his church through the Word
and the Spirit. They feel that the future, glorious, and perfect
kingdom refers to the new earth and life in heaven. Thus Rev. 20 is
a description of the souls of dead believers reigning with Christ in
heaven.

The Rise of Millennialism

Early millennial teaching was
characterized by an apocalyptic emphasis. In this view the future
kingdom of God would be established through a series of dramatic,
unusual events. Such teaching has been kept alive throughout the
Christian era by certain types of premillennialism. Apocalyptic
interpretation is based upon the prophecies of Daniel and the
amplification of some of the same themes in the book of
Revelation. These works point to the imminent and supernatural
intervention of God in human affairs and the defeat of the
seemingly irresistible progress of evil. Numerology, theme figures,
and angelology play a major role in these presentations. The
apocalyptic world view was very influential among the Jews in the
period that elapsed between the OT and the NT. Consequently the
audiences to which Jesus preached were influenced by it. The early
Christians also embraced this outlook.

The book of Revelation, composed during a period of persecution in
the first century, used the Jewish apocalyptic interpretation to
explain the Christian era. Daniel's Son of man was presented as
Christ, numerological formulas were restated, and the dualistic
world of good and evil was provided with a new set of characters.
Despite these changes the essential apocalyptic message remained as
the book taught the living hope of the immediate direct intervention
of God to reverse history and to overcome evil with good. Such an
outlook brought great comfort to believers who suffered from
persecution by the forces of Imperial Rome. Expressed in a form
that has been called historic premillennialism, this hope seems to
have been the prevailing eschatology during the first three
centuries of the Christian era, and is found in the works of Papias,
Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Methodius,
Commodianus, and Lactantius.

Several forces worked to undermine the millennialism of the early
church. One of these was the association of the teaching with a
radical group, the Montanists, who placed a great stress on a new
third age of the Spirit which they believed was coming among their
number in Asia Minor. Another influence which encouraged a change
of eschatological views was the emphasis of Origen upon the
manifestation of the kingdom within the soul of the believer rather
than in the world. This resulted in a shift of attention away from
the historical toward the spiritual or metaphysical. A final factor
that led to a new millennial interpretation was the conversion of
the Emperor Constantine the Great and the adoption of Christianity
as the favored Imperial religion.

Medieval and Reformation Millennialism

In the new age brought in by
the acceptance of Christianity as the main religion of the Roman
Empire it was Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, who articulated the
amillennial view which dominated Western Christian thought during
the Middle Ages. The millennium, according to his interpretation,
referred to the church in which Christ reigned with his saints. The
statements in the book of Revelation were interpreted allegorically
by Augustine. No victory was imminent in the struggle with evil in
the world. On the really important level, the spiritual, the battle
had already been won and God had triumphed through the cross. Satan
was reduced to lordship over the City of the World, which coexisted
with the City of God. Eventually even the small domain left to the
devil would be taken from him by a triumphant God.

Augustine's allegorical interpretation became the official doctrine
of the church during the medieval period. However, in defiance of
the main teaching of the church the earlier apocalyptic
premillennialism continued to be held by certain counterculture
groups. These millenarians under charismatic leaders were often
associated with radicalism and revolts. For example, during the
eleventh century in regions most affected by urbanization and
social change thousands followed individuals such as Tanchelm of
the Netherlands, causing great concern to those in positions of
power. In the twelfth century Joachim of Fiore gave fresh
expression to the millennial vision with his teaching about the
coming third age of the Holy Spirit. During the Hussite Wars in
fifteenth century Bohemia the Taborites encouraged the resistance
to the Catholic Imperial forces by proclaiming the imminent
return of Christ to establish his kingdom. These outbreaks of
premillennialism continued during the Reformation era and were
expressed most notably in the rebellion of the city of Munster
in 1534.

Jan Matthys gained control of the community, proclaiming that he
was Enoch preparing the way for the second coming of Christ by
establishing a new code of laws which featured a community of
property and other radical reforms. He declared that Munster was
the New Jerusalem and called all faithful Christians to gather in
the city. Many Anabaptists answered his summons, and most of the
original inhabitants of the town were forced to flee or to live in
a veritable reign of terror. The situation was so threatening to
other areas of Europe that a combined Protestant and Catholic force
laid siege to the place and after a difficult struggle captured the
town, suppressing the wave of millennial enthusiasm.

Perhaps the Munster episode led the Protestant Reformers to reaffirm
Augustinian amillennialism. Each of the three main Protestant
traditions of the sixteenth century, Lutheran, Calvinist, and
Anglican, had the support of the state and so continued the same
Constantinian approach to theology. Both Luther and Calvin were very
suspicious of millennial speculation. Calvin declared that those who
engaged in calculations based on the apocalyptic portions of
Scripture were "ignorant" and "malicious." The major statements of
the various Protestant bodies such as the Augsburg Confession
(1, xvii), the Thirty nine Articles (IV), and the Westminister
Confession (chs. 32, 33), although professing faith in the return
of Christ, do not support apocalyptic millenarian speculation. In
certain respects, however, the Reformers inaugurated changes which
would lead to a revival of interest in premillennialism. These
include a more literal approach to the interpretation of Scripture,
the identification of the papacy with Antichrist, and an emphasis
on Bible prophecy.

Modern Millennialism

It was during the seventeenth century that
premillennialism of a more scholarly nature was presented. Two
Reformed theologians, Johann Heinrich Alsted and Joseph Mede, were
responsible for the renewal of this outlook. They did not interpret
the book of Revelation in an allegorical manner but rather
understood it to contain the promise of a literal kingdom of God to
be established on earth before the last judgment. During the
Puritan Revolution the writings of these men encouraged others to
look for the establishment of the millennial kingdom in England.
One of the more radical of these groups, the Fifth Monarchy Men,
became infamous for their insistence on the reestablishment of OT
law and a reformed government for England. The collapse of the
Cromwellian regime and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy
discredited premillennialism. Yet the teaching continued into
the eighteenth century through the work of Isaac Newton, Johann
Albrecht Bengel, and Joseph Priestley.

As the popularity of premillennialism wanted, postmillennialism rose
to prominence. First expressed in the works of certain Puritan
scholars, it received its most influential formulation in the
writings of the Anglican commentator Daniel Whitby. It seemed to him
that the kingdom of God was coming ever closer and that it would
arrive through the same kind of effort that had always triumphed in
the past. Among the many theologians and preachers who were
convinced by the arguments of Whitby was Jonathan Edwards.
Edwardsean postmillennialism also emphasized the place of America
in the establishment of millennial conditions upon the earth.

During the nineteenth century premillennialism became popular once
again. The violent uprooting of European social and political
institutions during the era of the French Revolution encouraged a
more apocalyptic climate of opinion. There was also a revival of
interest in the fortunes of the Jews. A new element was added to
premillennialism during this period with the rise of
dispensationalism. Edward Irving, a Church of Scotland minister who
pastored a congregation in London, was one of the outstanding
leaders in the development of the new interpretation. He published
numerous works on prophecy and organized the Albury Park prophecy
conferences, thus setting the pattern for other gatherings of
premillenarians during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Irving's apocalyptic exposition found support among the Plymouth
Brethren and led many in the group to become enthusiastic teachers
of dispensational premillennialism.

Perhaps the leading early dispensational expositor among the
Brethren was John Nelson Darby. He believed that the second coming
of Christ consisted of two stages, the first a secret rapture or
"catching away" of the saints which would remove the church before
a seven year period of tribulation devastates the earth, and the
second when Christ appears visibly with his saints after the
tribulation to rule on earth for a thousand years. Darby also taught
that the church was a mystery of which only Paul wrote and that the
purposes of God can be understood as working through a series of
periods, or dispensations, in each of which God dealt with
people in unique ways.

Most premillennialists during the early nineteenth century were not
dispensationalists, however. More typical of their number was David
Nevins Lord, who edited a quarterly journal, The Theological and
Literary Review, which appeared from 1848 to 1861. This periodical
contained articles of interest to premillennialists and helped to
elaborate a nondispensational system of prophetic interpretation.
Lord believed that a historical explanation of the book of
Revelation was preferable to the futurist outlook which
characterized the dispensational view. This approach was followed
by most premillennialists in the United States until after the Civil
War, when dispensationalism spread among their number. Darby's
interpretation was accepted because of the work of individuals such
as Henry Moorhouse, a Brethren evangelist, who convinced many
interdenominational speakers to accept many interdenominational
speakers to accept dispensationalism.

Typical of those who came to believe in Darby's eschatology were
William E Blackstone, "Harry" A Ironside, Arno C Gaebelein,
Lewis Sperry Chafer, and C I Scofield. It is through Scofield
and his works that dispensationalism became the norm for much of
American evangelicalism. His Scofield Reference Bible, which made
the new eschatological interpretation an integral part of an
elaborate system of notes printed on the same pages as the text,
proved so popular that it sold over three million copies in fifty
years. Bible schools and seminaries such as Biola, Moody Bible
Institute, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Grace Theological
Seminary, along with the popular preachers and teachers who have
utilized the electronic media, have made this interpretation
popular among millions of conservative Protestants. The new view
replaced the older premillennial outlook to such an extent that
when George Ladd restated the historic interpretation in the
midtwentieth century it seemed like a novelty to many evangelicals.

While the various forms of premillennialism competed for adherents
in nineteenth century America, a form of postmillennialism that
equated the United States with the kingdom of God became very
popular. Many Protestant ministers fed the fires of nationalism and
Manifest Destiny by presenting the coming of the golden age as
dependent upon the spread of democracy, technology, and the other
"benefits" of Western civilization. Perhaps the most complete
statement of this civil millennialism was presented by Hollis Read.
Ordained to the Congregational ministry in Park Street Church,
Boston, he served as a missionary to India but was forced to return
to the United States because of his wife's poor health. In a two
volume work, The Hand of God in History, he attempted to prove that
God's millennial purposes were finding fulfillment in America. He
believed that geography, politics, learning, the arts, and morality
all pointed to the coming of the millennium to America in the
nineteenth century. From this base the new age could spread to the
entire earth.

As Ps. 22:27 stated, "All the ends of the earth shall remember and
turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship
before him." In order to accomplish the purpose of global evangelism
Read favored imperialism because the extension of Anglo Saxon
control over other nations ensured the spread of the gospel. He
cited the prevalence of the English language, which made it easier
to preach the Word and to teach the native people the more civilized
Western culture, as one example of the benefits of Western control.
Technological improvements such as the steam press, the locomotive,
and the steamship were also given by God to spread enlightenment
and the Christian message to all peoples.

Whenever the United States has faced a time of crisis, there have
been those who have revived civil postmillennialism as a means to
encourage and comfort their fellow citizens. The biblical content
of this belief has become increasingly vague as the society has
become more pluralistic. For example, during the period of the Civil
War many agreed with Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the
Republic," which described God as working through the Northern
forces to accomplish his ultimate purpose. President Wilson's
crusade to "make the world safe for democracy," which led his
country into World War I, was based upon a postmillennial vision
that gave American ideals the major role in establishing peace
and justice on earth. Since World War II several groups have
revived civil millennialism to counter communism and to resist
domestic changes such as those brought about by the moves for
equal rights for women.

In addition to the premillennial, amillennial, and postmillennial
interpretations there have been groups such as the Shakers, the
Seventh Day Adventists, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Latter day
Saints (Mormons) who tend to equate the activities of their own sect
with the coming of the millennium. There are also movements
including the Nazis and the Marxists who teach a kind of secular
millennialism when they speak of the Third Reich or the
classless society.

Millennium and Millenarianism

Catholic Information

The fundamental idea of millenarianism, as understood by Christian writers, may
be set forth as follows: At the end of time Christ will return in all His
splendour to gather together the just, to annihilate hostile powers, and to
found a glorious kingdom on earth for the enjoyment of the highest spiritual and
material blessings; He Himself will reign as its king, and all the just,
including the saints recalled to life, will participate in it. At the close of
this kingdom the saints will enter heaven with Christ, while the wicked, who
have also been resuscitated, will be condemned to eternal damnation. The
duration of this glorious reign of Christ and His saints on earth, is frequently
given as one thousand years. Hence it is commonly known as the "millennium",
while the belief in the future realization of the kingdom is called
"millenarianism" (or "chiliasm", from the Greek chilia, scil. ete).
This term of one thousand years, however, is by no means an essential element of
the millennium as conceived by its adherents. The extent, details of the
realization, conditions, the place, of the millennium were variously described.

Essential are the following points:

the early return of Christ in all His power and glory,

the establishment of an earthly kingdom with the just,

the resuscitation of the deceased saints and their participation in the
glorious reign,

the destruction of the powers hostile to God, and,

at the end of the kingdom, the universal resurrection with the final judgment,

after which the just will enter heaven, while the wicked will be consigned to
the eternal fire of hell.

The roots of the belief in a glorious kingdom, partly natural, partly
supernatural, are found in the hopes of the Jews for a temporal Messiah and in
the Jewish apocalyptic. Under the galling pressure of their political
circumstances the expectation of a Messiah who would free the people of God had
in the Jewish mind, assumed a character that was to a great extent earthly; the
Jews longed above all for a saviour who would free them from their oppressors
and restore the former splendour of Israel. These expectations generally
included the belief that Jehovah would conquer all powers hostile to Himself and
to His chosen people, and that He would set up a final, glorious kingdom of
Israel. The apocalyptic books, principally the book of Henoch and the fourth
book of Esdras, indicate various details of the arrival of the Messiah, the
defeat of the nations hostile to Israel, and the union of all the Israelites in
the Messianic kingdom followed by the renovation of the world and the universal
resurrection.

The natural and the supernatural are mingled in this conception of a Messianic
kingdom as the closing act of the world's history. The Jewish hopes of a
Messiah, and the descriptions of apocalyptic writers were blended; it was
between the close of the present world-order and the commencement of the new
that this sublime kingdom of the chosen people was to find its place. That many
details of these conceptions should remain indistinct and confused was but
natural, but the Messianic kingdom is always pictured as something miraculous,
though the colours are at times earthly and sensuous. The evangelical accounts
clearly prove how fervently the Jews at the time of Christ expected an earthly
Messianic kingdom, but the Saviour came to proclaim the spiritual kingdom of God
for the deliverance of man from his sins and for his sanctification, a kingdom
which actually began with His birth. There is no trace of chiliasm to be found
in the Gospels or in the Epistles of St. Paul; everything moves in the spiritual
and religious sphere; even the descriptions of the end of the world and of the
last judgment bear this stamp. The victory over the symbolical beast (the enemy
of God and of the saints) and over Antichrist, as well as the triumph of Christ
and His saints, are described in the Apocalypse of St. John (Revelation 20-21),
in pictures that resemble those of the Jewish apocalyptic writers, especially of
Daniel and Henoch. Satan is chained in the abyss for a thousand years, the
martyrs and the just rise from the dead and share in the priesthood and kingship
of Christ. Though it is difficult to focus sharply the pictures used in the
Apocalypse and the things expressed by them, yet there can be no doubt that the
whole description refers to the spiritual combat between Christ and the Church
on the one hand and the malignant powers of hell and the world on the other.
Nevertheless, a large number of Christians of the post-Apostolic era,
particularly in Asia Minor, yielded so far to Jewish apocalyptic as to put a
literal meaning into these descriptions of St. John's Apocalypse; the result was
that millenarianism spread and gained staunch advocates not only among the
heretics but among the Catholic Christians as well.

One of the heretics, the Gnostic Cerinthus, who flourished towards the end of
the first century, proclaimed a splendid kingdom of Christ on earth which He
would establish with the risen saints upon His second advent, and pictured the
pleasures of this one thousand years in gross, sensual colours (Caius in
Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", III, 28; Dionysius Alex. in Eusebius, ibid., VII, 25).
Later among Catholics, Bishop Papias of Hierapolis, a disciple of St. John,
appeared as an advocate of millenarianism. He claimed to have received his
doctrine from contemporaries of the Apostles, and Irenaeus narrates that other
"Presbyteri", who had seen and heard the disciple John, learned from him the
belief in millenarianism as part of the Lord's doctrine. According to Eusebius
(Hist. Eccl., 111, 39) Papias in his book asserted that the resurrection of the
dead would be followed by one thousand years of a visible glorious earthly
kingdom of Christ, and according to Irenaeus (Adv. Haereses, V, 33), he taught
that the saints too would enjoy a superabundance of earthly pleasures. There
will be days in which vines will grow, each with 10,000 branches, and on each
branch 10,000 twigs, and on each twig 10,000 shoots, and in each shoot 10,000
clusters, and on each cluster 10,000 grapes, and each grape will produce 216
gallons of wine etc.

Millenarian ideas are found by most commentators in the Epistle of St. Barnabas,
in the passage treating of the Jewish sabbath; for the resting of God on the
seventh day after the creation is explained in the following manner. After the
Son of God has come and put an end to the era of the wicked and judged them, and
after the sun, the moon, and the stars have been changed, then He will rest in
glory on the seventh day. The author had premised, if it is said that God
created all things in six days, this means that God will complete all things in
six millenniums, for one day represents one thousand years. It is certain that
the writer advocates the tenet of a re-formation of the world through the second
advent of Christ, but it is not clear from the indications whether the author of
the letter was a millenarian in the strict sense of the word. St. Irenæus of
Lyons, a native of Asia Minor, influenced by the companions of St. Polycarp,
adopted millenarian ideas, discussing and defending them in his works against
the Gnostics (Adv. Haereses, V, 32). He developed this doctrine mainly in
opposition to the Gnostics, who rejected all hopes of the Christians in a happy
future life, and discerned in the glorious kingdom of Christ on earth
principally the prelude to the final, spiritual kingdom of God, the realm of
eternal bliss. St. Justin of Rome, the martyr, opposes to the Jews in his
Dialogue with Tryphon (ch. 80-1) the tenet of a millennium and asserts that he
and the Christians whose belief is correct in every point know that there will
be a resurrection of the body and that the newly built and enlarged Jerusalem
will last for the space of a thousand years, but he adds that there are many
who, though adhering to the pure and pious teachings of Christ, do not believe
in it. A witness for the continued belief in millenarianism in the province of
Asia is St. Melito, Bishop of Sardes in the second century. He develops the same
train of thought as did St. Irenæus.

The Montanistic movement had its origin in Asia Minor. The expectation of an
early advent of the celestial Jerusalem upon earth, which, it was thought, would
appear in Phrygia, was intimately joined in the minds of the Montanists with the
idea of the millennium. Tertullian, the protagonist of Montanism, expounds the
doctrine (in his work now lost, "De Spe Fidelium" and in "Adv. Marcionem", IV)
that at the end of time the great Kingdom of promise, the new Jerusalem, would
be established and last for the space of one thousand years. All these
millenarian authors appeal to various passages in the prophetic books of the Old
Testament, to a few passages in the Letters of St. Paul and to the Apocalypse of
St. John. Though millenarianism had found numerous adherents among the
Christians and had been upheld by several ecclesiastical theologians, neither in
the post-Apostolic period nor in the course of the second century, does it
appear as a universal doctrine of the Church or as a part of the Apostolic
tradition. The primitive Apostolic symbol mentions indeed the resurrection of
the body and the return of Christ to judge the living and the dead, but it says
not a word of the millennium. It was the second century that produced not only
defenders of the millennium but pronounced adversaries of the chiliastic ideas.
Gnosticism rejected millenarianism. In Asia Minor, the principal seat of
millenarian teachings, the so-called Alogi rose up against millenarianism as
well as against Montanism, but they went too far in their opposition, rejecting
not only the Apocalypse of St. John, alleging Cerinthus as its author, but his
Gospel also. The opposition to millenarianism became more general towards the
end of the second century, going hand in hand with the struggle against
Montanism. The Roman presbyter Caius (end of the second and beginning of the
third century) attacked the millenarians. On the other hand, Hippolytus of Rome
defended them and attempted a proof, basing his arguments on the allegorical
explanation of the six days of creation as six thousand years, as he had been
taught by tradition.

The most powerful adversary of millenarianism was Origen of Alexandria. In view
of the Neo-Platonism on which his doctrines were founded and of his
spiritual-allegorical method of explaining the Holy Scripture, he could not side
with the millenarians. He combatted them expressly, and, owing to the great
influence which his writings exerted on ecclesiastical theology especially in
Oriental countries, millenarianism gradually disappeared from the idea of
Oriental Christians. Only a few later advocates are known to us, principally
theological adversaries of Origen. About the middle of the third century, Nepos,
bishop in Egypt, who entered the lists against the allegorism of Origen, also
propounded millenarian ideas and gained some adherents in the vicinity of Arsino
. A schism threatened; but the prudent and moderate policy of Dionysius, Bishop
of Alexandria, preserved unity; the chiliasts abandoned their views (Eusebius
"Hist. Eccl.", VII, 14). Egypt seems to have harboured adherents of
millenarianism in still later times Methodius, Bishop of Olympus, one of the
principal opponents of Origen at the beginning of the fourth century, upheld
chiliasm in his Symposion (IX, 1, 5). In the second half of the fourth century,
these doctrines found their last defender in Apollinaris, Bishop of Laodicea and
founder of Apollinarism (q.v.). His writings on this subject, have been lost;
but St. Basil of Caesarea (Epist. CCLXIII, 4), Epiphanius (Haeres. LXX, 36) and
Jerome (In Isai. XVIII) testify to his having been a chiliast. Jerome also adds
that many Christians of that time shared the same beliefs; but after that
millenarianism found no outspoken champion among the theologians of the Greek
Church.

In the West, the millenarian expectations of a glorious kingdom of Christ and
His just, found adherents for a long time. The poet Commodian (Instructiones,
41, 42, 44) as well as Lactantius (Institutiones, VII) proclaim the millennial
realm and describe its splendour, partly drawing on the earlier chiliasts and
the Sybilline prophecies, partly borrowing their colours from the "golden age"
of the pagan poets; but the idea of the six thousand years for the duration of
the world is ever conspicuous. Victorinus of Pettau also was a millenarian
though in the extant copy of his commentary on the Apocalypse no allusions to it
can be detected. St. Jerome, himself a decided opponent of the millenial ideas,
brands Sulpicius Severus as adhering to them, but in the writings of this author
in their present form nothing can be found to support this charge. St. Ambrose
indeed teaches a twofold resurrection, but millenarian doctrines do not stand
out clearly. On the other hand; St. Augustine was for a time, as he himself
testifies (De Civitate Dei, XX, 7), a pronounced champion of millenarianism; but
he places the millennium after the universal resurrection and regards it in a
more spiritual light (Sermo, CCLIX). When, however, he accepted the doctrine of
only one universal resurrection and a final judgment immediately following, he
could no longer cling to the principal tenet of early chiliasm. St. Augustine
finally held to the conviction that there will be no millennium. The struggle
between Christ and His saints on the one hand and the wicked world and Satan on
the other, is waged in the Church on earth; so the great Doctor describes it in
his work De Civitate Dei. In the same book he gives us an allegorical
explanation of Chapter 20 of the Apocalypse. The first resurrection, of which
this chapter treats, he tells us, refers to the spiritual rebirth in baptism;
the sabbath of one thousand years after the six thousand years of history is the
whole of eternal life -- or in other words, the number one thousand is intended
to express perfection, and the last space of one thousand years must be
understood as referring to the end of the world; at all events, the kingdom of
Christ, of which the Apocalypse speaks, can only be applied to the Church (De
Civitate Dei, XX 5-7). This explanation of the illustrious Doctor was adopted by
succeeding Western theologians, and millenarianism in its earlier shape no
longer received support. Cerinthus and the Ebionites are mentioned in later
writings against the heretics as defenders of the millennium, it is true, but as
cut-off from the Church. Moreover, the attitude of the Church towards the
secular power had undergone a change with closer connection between her and the
Roman empire. There is no doubt that this turn of events did much towards
weaning the Christians from the old millenarianism, which during the time of
persecution had been the expression of their hopes that Christ would soon
reappear and overthrow the foes of His elect. Chiliastic views disappeared all
the more rapidly, because, as was remarked above, in spite of their wide
diffusion even among sincere Christians, and in spite of their defence by
prominent Fathers of the early Church, millenarianism was never held in the
universal Church as an article of faith based on Apostolic traditions.
The Middle Ages were never tainted with millenarianism; it was foreign both to
the theology of that period and to the religious ideas of the people. The
fantastic views of the apocalyptic writers (Joachim of Floris, the
Franciscan-Spirituals, the Apostolici), referred only to a particular form of
spiritual renovation of the Church, but did not include a second advent of
Christ. The "emperor myths," which prophesied the establishment of a happy,
universal kingdom by the great emperor of the future, contain indeed
descriptions that remind one of the ancient Sybilline and millenarian writings,
but an essential trait is again missing, the return of Christ and the connection
of the blissful reign with the resurrection of the just. Hence the millennium
proper is unknown to them. The Protestantism of the sixteenth century ushered in
a new epoch of millenarian doctrines. Protestant fanatics of the earlier years,
particularly the Anabaptists, believed in a new, golden age under the sceptre of
Christ, after the overthrow of the papacy and secular empires. In 1534 the
Anabaptists set up in Münster (Westphalia) the new Kingdom of Zion, which
advocated sharing property and women in common, as a prelude to the new kingdom
of Christ. Their excesses were opposed and their millenarianism disowned by both
the Augsberg (art. 17) and the Helvetian Confession (ch. 11), so that it found
no admission into the Lutheran and Reformed theologies. Nevertheless, the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries produced new apocalyptic fanatics and
mystics who expected the millennium in one form or another: in Germany, the
Bohemian and Moravian Brethren (Comenius); in France, Pierre Jurien
(L'Accomplissement des Propheties, 1686); in England at the time of Cromwell,
the Independents and Jane Leade. A new phase in the development of millenarian
views among the Protestants commenced with Pietism. One of the chief champions
of the millennium in Germany was I.A. Bengel and his disciple Crusius, who were
afterwards joined by Rothe, Volch, Thiersch, Lange and others. Protestants from
Wurtemberg emigrated to Palestine (Temple Communities) in order to be closer to
Christ at His second advent. Certain fantastical sects of England and North
America, such as the Irvingites, Mormons, Adventists, adopted both apocalyptic
and millenarian views, expecting the return of Christ and the establishment of
His kingdom at an early date. Some Catholic theologians of the nineteenth
century championed a moderate, modified millenarianism, especially in connection
with their explanations of the Apocalypse; as Pagani (The End of the World,
1856), Schneider (Die chiliastische Doktrin, 1859), Rohling (Erklärung der
Apokalypse des hl. lohannes, 1895; Auf nach Sion, 1901), Rougeyron Chabauty
(Avenir de l'Eglise catholique selon le Plan Divin, 1890).